Skip to content

Import and place to level

Import

  1. Select Window > Import 3D Gaussians from the menu at the top of the UE editor
  2. In the dialog window, select point_cloud.ply, the result of 3D Gaussian Splatting training

The path must contain alphanumeric characters only

You cannot import from a path that contains multibyte characters such as Japanese.
The path must contain only alphanumeric characters.

Place to level

  1. Drag and drop "Content > ThreeDGaussians > ModelName > BP_3D_Gaussians_ModelName" onto the level in the content browser.

Also, if necessary, set the following items under "Default" in the Details tab.

  • Enabled Blocks: Select which blocks of imported data will be displayed.
  • Spherical Harmonics Degree: Select the color rendering method.
    "Degree 0" disables the color change depending on the angle of view (no reflections, etc.).
    "Degrees 1-3" enable the color change with viewing angle. A higher Degree makes the rendering more accurate, but increases the rendering load.
  • Albedo Tint: Correct color. The color specified here will be multiplied by the original color.
  • Min translucent sort priority: Sets the priority for rendering 3D Gaussian Splatting data.
    In this plug-in, 3D Gaussian Splatting data is drawn as a translucent mesh.
    This value is applied to the Translucency Sort Priority of the furthest block, and a value of (this value + number of valid blocks - 1) is applied to the nearest block.
  • Crop Volumes: Add elements and specify the cropping range.
    Gaussians outside the range specified here will not be rendered.
  • Kill Volumes: Add elements and specify hidden ranges.
    Gaussians inside the range specified here will not be rendered.
  • Sprite Size: Adjust the size of the sprite that draws the Gaussian distribution.
    Increasing this value allows accurate rendering to the edges of the Gaussian distribution. However, this increases the number of overlapping sprites and increases the drawing load.
  • Advanced > VR: Turn on to support VR. When turned on, the rendering load will increase slightly.
    (UPDATE v1.5: This setting is no longer needed. It jsut works for both VR and non-VR)
  • Advanced > Lit: Turn on to support lighting.
    When turned on, Lit/Translucent material is used. When turned off, Unlit/Translucent material is used.
  • Advanced > Render As 2D Gaussians: Turn on to switch to an approximate rendering method compatible with SceneCapture2D and others.
    The result is not accurate, but it is more compatible with the engine's rendering pipeline and works in many cases, including SceneCapture2D.
  • Advanced > Alpha Boost For 2D Gaussians: Adjust the opacity of the gaussinas in the "2D Gaussians" rendering method described above. The opacity in the "2D Gaussians" rendering method tends to be thin, so tweak this for your liking.

Migrate cropping range from v1.2 or earlier

"Crop Volume", which was used in v1.2 and earlier, has been deprecated. It may be removed in the future.
Please disable "Crop" under DEPRECATED and use the new "Crop Volumes".

VR mode supports only Spherical Harmonics Degree 0

Currently, even if you select Degree 1 to 3, it will be rendered as Degree 0 when you turn on VR. We plan to eventually support Degree 1 to 3 as well.
(UPDATE v1.5: Now Degree 1 to 3 are supported)

Flickering when viewed from a long distance

By default, the Gaussian sort order is calculated with 16-bit precision, which can cause flickering when viewed from a long distance, as the sort order cannot be correctly evaluated at a distance.

In UE 5.2 and above, setting ‘Project Settings > Plugins > Niagara > Renderer > Default Sort Precision’ to ‘High’ solves the problem in many cases.

Known issues

Known issues with VR

In UE5.1, if the HMD Roll is not 0 (head tilted to the left or right), rendering will not be correct. Please use UE5.2 or higher.

Known issues with portrait aspect ratio

UE5.1 may not render correctly if the screen aspect ratio is portrait. Use UE5.2 or above.

Known issue with Lit mode

  1. If the point light is close to the surface of the 3D Gaussian Splatting data, the brightness may be uneven.
    Below, there is a moment when the light on the right suddenly becomes brighter.
  2. The brightness of spot lights and rect lights is not evaluated correctly, making them darker than directional lights and point lights.
    All three lights below have an intensity of 15 cd, but you can see that the spot light in the front and the rect light on the right are darker than the spotlight on the left.